


SHIELD Investigation

by Wednesday990



Category: Amazing Spider-Man (2012), The Avengers (2012)
Genre: Gen, The Avengers are in this one, it'll just take a bit
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-07-10
Updated: 2013-09-10
Packaged: 2017-11-09 13:29:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 12,101
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/455973
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wednesday990/pseuds/Wednesday990
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Phil Coulson is investigating the events in the Amazing Spider-man for SHIELD. Interrogating Curt Connors eventually leads him to discoveries he hadn't expected.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Coulson Meets Connors

"Yes, sir, I'm at the penitentiary right now."

Coulson exchanged a few closing remarks with Nick Fury on the phone and closed the car door behind him. After ending his call, he slipped the phone back into his inner suit pocket. Coulson cut an imposing figure as he stood in the middle of the prison's guest parking lot. His dark suit and tie coupled with his dark sunglasses practically screamed government agent, and he could see that the guards shifting nervously out of the corner of his eye were more than aware of that. It wasn't often that Coulson took pleasure in this, but right now he purposefully wanted to leave an impression of authority. After all, later he would need to make sure they wouldn't be tempted to speak of his visit too loudly; it would help if they were imagining what might happen to them if they crossed him in any way.

Coulson smoothly pressed down on the front of his suit jacket and walked steadily toward the visitor's entrance, the gravel crackling under his well-polished dress shoes. He thought momentarily about the new mess he'd been assigned to handle.

The Avengers hadn't been available to help with the sudden giant, green lizard incident, but the situation had quickly come to SHIELD's attention after they'd begun their investigation of Oscorp and its most recent activities. Oscorp had already been on low level surveillance because of their regular contracts with the Army for bio-chemical weapons, but once SHIELD had picked up on the new advancements that the Cross-Species Genetics Department had made, they quickly focused their attention on figuring out what had gone wrong.

It was especially fortunate for them that the newest bio-weapon to be created by the Osborn Corporation, Dr. Curt Connors, had been left relatively unguarded in Riker's solitary confinement. SHIELD could discreetly set up a meeting with the recently out-of-work scientist now that Oscorp's PR department denied having anything to do with the felon. SHIELD was well aware that there was more going on with the Lizard, Spiderman, and Oscorp than was visible from the surface, and the only one that they could get access to was the imprisoned doctor.

Coulson had called ahead to explain the situation, so he'd only needed to flash his badge at the entrance to reach solitary confinement unbothered. When he'd finally reached the cell, Coulson looked through the bars at the man sitting alone in his cell and nodded at the guard.

"Hello, Dr. Connors," Coulson greeted as he walked through the doors and then he waited for the doors to close behind him, letting the tension between them build. "My name is Agent Coulson. I'm here to talk to you about what happened a few weeks ago."

The man had been staring down at his feet, only giving him a small glance when he'd first introduced himself, but as the sound of the last sentence hung in the air, he slowly picked up his head to stare at the stranger in front of him. After a few moments with no response, Coulson walked over and grabbed the empty chair on the other side of the room.

"I hope you don't mind..."

Coulson gestured at the chair he had placed a few feet away from Connors, and then sat down without waiting for Connors to say anything. The two of them sat like that for a while, in silence, Connors staring and Coulson waiting patiently with a polite smile on his face, more a slight curving at the lips than anything else.

Finally Connors broke the silence, "Who do you work for?"

"SHIELD," Coulson explained, and when the only reaction that garnered was a blank stare, he elaborated. "Also known as the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division."

"Right," Dr. Connors said, looking off to the side a bit. "So, you're government."

"Yes," Coulson said. "We'd like to clear up some of the discrepencies we've encountered in your story. Your cooperation would be appreciated."

"Why not?" Connors said almost whimsically and he shrugged. "I've got nothing better to do."

"Thank you," Coulson said as if Connors actually had a choice. "To begin, you agree that your name is Dr. Curtis Connors, and until recently you were the top researcher in cross-species genetics for the Osborn Corporation?"

"Yes."

"Good. However, first, there was something I found interesting when I was searching through your files. Why did you hire a high school student as your head assistant?" Coulson asked. "Miss Gwen Stacy? Surely, as the number one researcher in cross-species genetics you could easily hire the best and the brightest."

"You assume that because she was a high school student that she wasn't the best or the brightest. Miss Stacy was one of the best assistants I've ever had, and I wouldn't underestimate the brilliance of her age group."

At this point, Dr. Connors looked almost sorrowful, the lines of his face deepening as he looked down at his feet once again.

"Yes," he said softly. "Don't underestimate any of them. There's more to them than you can even begin to imagine."

"I assume you're referring to your sudden contact with the son of your former colleague?" Coulson said, catching Dr. Connors' undivided attention once again. "Peter Parker, son of Dr. Richard Parker who was formerly your only peer in cross-species genetics...we've been keeping tabs on you, Dr. Connors. We're well aware of what you've been doing."

"If you were aware than why didn't you stop me?" Dr. Connors pleaded, looking almost desperate. "God, I didn't want to do the things that I did! When we finally made a viable formula I refused to go straight to human testing! And for my refusal to cooperate, I was told to resign and that I would never get a chance to-"

At this, Dr. Connors cut himself off suddenly, his voice breaking and he gestured weakly at his severed limb.

"I did what I thought I had to do," he said forcefully when he finally managed to compose himself. "They were going to take it to a Veteran's hospital… I had to stop them."

"Why did you take the serum yourself then?" Coulson asked, softly, mindful of the doctor's fragile state of mind. "Did you need to take it in order to stop them?"

"I didn't need to, no," Connors said, sniffling slightly and rubbing at his nose.  
He paused when Coulson offered the scientist a handkerchief from his breast pocket.

"Thank you," he whispered, and he cleaned his face before carefully folding it with his one appendage, and handed it back.

"No, I didn't need to," Connors said more firmly, looking Coulson in the eye again, the stringy fringe of his hair falling into his eyes. "I'll admit, a large part of me saw this as the last chance I was going to get to fix myself, but another part of me rationalized that if I took it, and it worked, then it was okay for me to let them take the serum. And if it didn't work then I would be an undeniable example that they needed to go back to formula before they did anything else. Even if I was dead."

"Okay," Coulson nodded. "But what went wrong?"

"The…the serum. It does things to you," Connors confessed, a slight tremor went through his body as he recalled those last few days under the influence of the Lizard. "Not just the physical side effects. Even after the physical effects had worn off, it still had a grip on my mind. I didn't notice until I was given the antidote, but it was like I had another voice inside my head, right beneath the surface, telling me what I should do and think. It was ruthless, and so I was ruthless, and I did so many things that I regret."

The two of them sat in silence for a moment. Coulson was turning the Doctor's words over and over in his head, pondering the implications of what he'd just heard. As far as SHIELD was aware, Oscorp still had custody of the serum and the rest of Connors' work. He'd heard rumors that Connors' research had been of special interest to Norman Osborn for some years now as well. In particular, the regenerative qualities a successful cross-species formula would yield were of special interest. However, given the fact that their number-one researcher in that field was now out of commission and the one serum that they were in possession of had possible psychological side effects… the thought was more worrying than Coulson would have liked to admit.

"What about the formula that gave you the viable serum?" Coulson continued, deciding to put the Osborn dilemma aside until he left the prison.

"What about it?"

"Come on," Coulson goaded him. "You don't have a breakthrough after nearly 15 years and then your old research partner's son visits and you suddenly have a viable formula? That doesn't sound suspicious?"

"Peter…is brilliant, yes," Connors admitted, understanding that the SHIELD agent wouldn't be easily fooled. "He gave me the formula that made the serum possible, but I don't believe for a second that he had any of this in mind when he gave it to me."

"He came up with it himself?"

"I…I'm not sure. It's possible, he certainly understood what he was talking about. However, it is possible that he simply found something of his father's and gave it to me."

"Right," Coulson said. "And why did you go after him? Or was it Gwen Stacy?"

"What?" Connors said, looking confused. "I-"

"Well, you attacked Midtown Science High School where both Peter Parker and Gwen Stacy go to school. So, I assume that since you're connected to the both of them, one or the both had to have been your reason for going," Coulson clarified.

"I-" Connors cut himself off, looking heavily conflicted. As if he wanted to defend himself, but knew that he couldn't. "I can't say. It's hard to recall my reasonings at that time."

"Right," Coulson said again, his lips twisting slightly. "Well, that's all I have for today. Thank you again for your cooperation."

Before Coulson could get up and leave, Dr. Connors grabbed the agent's arm. Coulson stilled and stared calmly at the other man. The only thing that was stopping him from breaking the doctor's wrist was because the man only seemed to want to stop him from leaving, not hurt him.

"Agent Coulson," Connors said, his voice rough and desperate. "Whatever I did, don't let Peter or Gwen suffer for it. Keep them out of this. If you start investigating them more openly... the kind of attention they might receive from..."

"Don't worry, Dr. Connors," Coulson assured him. "SHIELD is more than capable of being discreet. We'll make sure the two of them are safe."

"Thank you," he said, holding eye contact a little longer before letting go and averting his gaze.

Coulson stared down at the doctor for a moment more and then signaled the guard to open the door.

"Until next time, Dr. Connors."


	2. Coulson Does His Homework

When Coulson reported back to SHIELD, he went straight to his office to upload the recording of his interview with Dr. Connors. When he finished listening to it, he went back to the beginning and listened to it again, and he checked the transcript he was typing for any inaccuracies. 

When he was finished with that, he leant back into his chair and thought. The SHIELD investigation of Oscorp and Spider-man was mostly concerned with making sure that no biochemical weapons were in the wrong hands and to track and profile the new vigilante. Hopefully, if they were able to get in contact with him, and he passed their review, he would be offered a position with the Avengers. 

Coulson smirked when he recalled the riot Stark had started when he heard that SHIELD was looking to recruit another member into their “super secret boy band.” Fortunately, once he’d figured out that the candidate they were looking into was a New York ‘hero,’ he’d quickly changed his tune. If anything, Coulson and the rest of SHIELD were having a difficult time keeping Stark away from the investigation now. Using ‘research and technological consultant’ as his excuse, the billionaire had already hacked into their files looking for more information…twice. 

Luckily, Coulson had been wise enough to plan ahead, and he’d been storing all of the information that he’d gathered on external hard drives only. Sure, it was risk and it was more likely to be stolen, but any hopefuls would have to get through an entire army of spies first, then Nick Fury. Coulson thought that his work was fairly well protected. 

However, Coulson decided to stop thinking about his own issues and moved onto the case at hand. They’d already pieced together what had happened to Connors, but there were some disturbing implications that the head of Oscorp, Norman Osborn, might be using the experimental serum that had driven Dr. Connors mad. 

Otherwise, there was Spider-man’s close connection with Oscorp to consider as well. The ‘web’ that the new superhero regularly used was, after collecting a sample at a crime scene and testing it, actually produced by a sector in Oscorp. Its proper name was ‘biocable’ and it explained how this Spider-man could swing around Manhattan on it. They’d also found it interesting that the biocable was related to some of the work Dr. Richard Parker had done nearly 15 years ago, and that his son had recently order 24 packets of the stuff. 

It had been tricky to ‘obtain’ Oscorp’s security footage of Dr. Connors’ floor, but Coulson had managed to get a hold of the footage that covered from the near disaster the Lizard had caused to a month before that. Coulson pinpointed the moment Parker had given Connors the formula and helped him develop the serum in the labs. However, Coulson was sure that they’d met before then, but there’d been no record of Peter Parker entering the building before the two of them had developed the serum together. 

Coulson looked through the guest log once more, and after a few moments he noticed that Dr. Connors had welcomed a new group of interns into his fold just a few days before Peter Parker’s appearance in the tower. Coulson followed a hunch and took a look at the first day of the internship. 

“Son of a bitch,” Coulson said under his breath when he realized Parker was following behind a group of nervous-looking interns.

Coulson followed Peter using the security cameras, saw him answer a question Dr. Connors had asked the group, saw the exchange between him and Gwen Stacy, and then he saw him sneak off after one of Oscorp’s administrators. Coulson was especially impressed when he saw Parker memorize the pass code to a restricted section while hidden at least fifteen feet away.

Unfortunately, they didn’t have any security cameras in the restricted areas, but luckily Oscorp employees were fastidious and prompt with their paperwork. Coulson quickly pulled up a damage report that had been filed later that day. Apparently, the nets holding the bioengineered spiders that Oscorp used to spin their biocable had been tampered with earlier that day, and when they managed to collect the spiders, a sweep of the area confirmed that one had gone missing. 

“Interesting,” Coulson said to himself. “So, Peter Parker starts investigating restricted areas of Oscorp, specifically an area that contained research related to his father’s work. Later in the day they discovered that their mutant spider collection had been tampered with and one had gone missing.”

Coulson thought about this dilemma a bit more. The case was that either Parker had purposefully stolen the spider for some reason or another, which seemed unlikely when looking at his records, or he had gone looking for a connection to his father and had stumbled into an area with radio-active spiders, accidently taking one home. 

Coulson reviewed the footage of Parker leaving the restricted zone, looking tense and nervous, and then he watched him speak to the Stacy girl.   
“What’s that?” Coulson asked himself as he looked closer at the screen, rewinding the footage a little bit. 

He watched Parker hand Stacy his stolen intern ID and then she walked away from him. Suddenly, Parker jumped, and his hand was holding and rubbing the back of his neck.   
“Maybe he was… bitten?” Coulson mused, looking up thoughtfully at the ceiling.

Things were looking more and more likely that Peter Parker was the notorious Spider-man. After all, the evidence was lining up. He had a connection with Dr. Connors and had given him the formula for the cross-genetic serum; he’d ordered the biocable used by Spider-man; he went to the school where Dr. Connors as the Lizard attacked and Spider-man had been sighted almost as soon as the Lizard had appeared; and it looked likely that he’d been bitten by a mutant spider.

When Coulson did a little more digging into Peter Parker’s files, he’d found the police file on his Uncle’s death. 

“Unsolved,” Coulson read. 

Coulson looked further into the report and read the description of the suspect still at large.

“Male Caucasian with shoulder-length blonde hair and a star tattoo on his left wrist,” Coulson read. “Why does that sound familiar?”

He cross-checked the description with Spider-man to see what he would get.

“Ah, that’s interesting.”

Apparently in the first few weeks of Spider-man’s activity, he’d been focusing mostly on bringing in male Caucasian’s with blonde hair. 

“Looks like we’ve got our guy.”

 

“You know, I don’t understand why Coulson won’t let us get involved with this whole recruitment thing. I mean, if anyone has a right to look pick out potential members of the Avengers, it would be a person already a part of the Avengers. Right, Bruce?”

Tony was in his respective corner of their shared lab, and he looked over to where the physicist was working.

“Uh-huh,” Dr. Banner said absentmindedly as he adjusted the focus on his microscope.

“Exactly!” Tony said, shoving some goldfish into his mouth and then wiping his hands on the front of his oil-stained AC/DC vintage t-shirt. “I mean, where’s Coulson putting his research anyway that I can’t find it? Under Fury’s chair?”

“Sounds interesting, Tony,” Bruce said as he wrote something down on the notepad next to him.

“I-what?” Tony said, finally sitting up properly and looking at his fellow scientist. “You’re not even listening to me are you?”

“What?” Bruce said, finally looking up from what he was doing, glasses perched precariously on the tip of his nose. “I’m sorry, what?”

“Oh god, now I know what Pepper feels like,” Tony said under his breath. 

“What?” Bruce said again.

“The new guy,” Tony said louder. “You know, Spider-man. SHIELD is scoping him out to become our new playmate. Don’t you think we should have a say in this?”

“Uh, I don’t know,” Bruce shrugged. “If they manage to get in contact with the guy, I think it’d be interesting to meet him.”

“Well, yeah,” Tony said like it was the most obvious thing in the world. “But that’s not the point. SHIELD is doing some super secret spy work again, and I have no idea what they’re doing.”

“Well, that is the point of super-secret spy work done by a super-secret spy organization,” Bruce pointed out. 

“Whatever,” Tony said. “Why are you taking their side anyway?”

“I-what? I’m not ‘taking their side.’ I just don’t think it’s that big of a deal,” Bruce said, looking back at his work since he knew Tony was trying to be deliberately irritating. “I’m just saying that I don’t care and that if they manage to ask Spider-man to join then I’m sure he’ll make a nice addition to the team.”

“Sure,” Tony said, mostly to himself since he knew Bruce was now done talking and had gone back into science la-la land.

Luckily, for Tony, JARVIS interrupted his growing bad mood with a phone call.

“Agent Coulson is on the line, sir,” JARVIS said.

“Huh,” Tony said, leaning back in his chair and crossing his arms. “Put him on speaker, JARVIS.”

“Mr. Stark,” Coulson’s bland voice came from the ceiling speakers. “Are you still interested in involving yourself with recruitment?”

Tony nearly fell out of his chair, but he quickly caught himself, sitting up straight and gaping at the ceiling.

“Uh, yes?” 

“Meet me out front,” Coulson said. “We’re going to meet up with a potential Spider-man.”

“Really?” Tony asked, getting over his initial shock and smirking at the thought of meeting a masked vigilante. “Where are we going to meet him?”

“In Queens.”


	3. Peter Really Needs to Catch a Break

Peter wasn't expecting this day to be any different than the rest of his week. Despite his new-found superpowers, his life had found a mind-numbing rhythm yet again. Only now, instead of the typical high school routine he'd been the victim of for so long, he could look forward to school, crime fighting, maybe homework, more crime fighting, and maybe hanging out with his girlfriend, Gwen.

Peter thought it was pretty sad that the best way he could spend time with his girlfriend outside of school was to get himself injured during one of his nightly patrols and show up on her fire escape. After a few weeks of this, Peter sometimes found himself banging his head against the nearest flat surface. It also didn't help that he was pretty sure Aunt May suspected he was Spider-man, or at least suspected he had a connection to the masked vigilante. After all, it wasn't a hard connection to make after he had shown up looking like he'd gone through a meat grinder after the night the Lizard had decided to attack New York City with biological weapons.

Mostly what had tipped him off was her sudden tolerance of his nocturnal comings and goings. Peter knew that she'd probably thought the worst of him before then since he'd been showing up in the dead of night with bruises and cuts all over his face. He was absolutely positive Aunt May and Uncle Ben had thought he'd come home high the day the spider had bit him, and he'd raided the fridge. Peter was actually kind of shocked he hadn't been on the receiving end of some sort of intervention at this point. God knows what everyone at school thought of him at this point.

However, all of this didn't change the fact that he'd come to expect a certain monotony to his days now that everything had calmed down. Even though it was now completely normal for him to have to wake up and go to high school, only to go help a police force that still wanted to arrest him. But either way, no matter how he'd grudgingly accepted his new routine, he wasn't going to get the kind of day he wanted.

Unfortunately for Peter, everything changed the moment a black car pulled up to the front of his school and waited for him to walk past.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Are you sure you want to do it like this?" Stark asked again, looking cautiously out the window of an unmarked SHIELD-issue car. "I mean, this seems kind of sketchy. We're probably going to freak him out."

"We can't confront him at school or at home," Coulson explained patiently. "And this way, if he does start trouble, we can make sure there aren't any witnesses. "

"But really? I mean, bad enough that Spider-man's a kid, we don't have to go around acting like kidnappers," Tony complained. "Are we sure he's even going to get in the car?"

"He won't want to make a scene in public," Coulson said. "So, if he is Spider-man, and I'm nearly one hundred percent positive that he is, he'll probably be confident enough in his abilities to get in the car without worrying about his personal well being. Especially since he won't suspect that we know he's Spider-man."

"Sure," Tony said, giving up, especially since they'd finally arrived a block or two away from the high school. Tony watched idly as the school let out and the students exited the building in droves. "And, uh, are we sure we want someone to be on the team when they haven't even graduated high school."

"He's proved that he's perfectly capable on his own, and he's probably more capable than most of our low-level agents at field work," Coulson admitted. "He's obviously super-human, and he was able to successfully neutralize a biological attack on the city. Quite honestly, I think he'll be the wisest investment SHIELD has made since we managed to sign on the Black Widow."

"Hey!" Tony jokingly protested. "What about me?"

"No comment," Coulson said before he looked at his phone and then out the window once more. "He should be here at any moment."

Tony leaned over so that he could look out at Coulson's side of the window.

"Alright, so what do you want me to do?" Tony asked.

Coulson raised an eyebrow.

"Back up."

"Back up?" Tony repeated incredulously.

"Well, I'll handle most of it," Coulson said. "If he handles the fact that we know about him well enough, we'll extend an invitation. Hopefully, having you here will convince him that we're legitimate."

"So, basically, I'm just here to smile and look pretty?"

"More or less," Coulson confirmed. "Your presence should be enough to convince him we're an organization that shares the same values, and you can answer any questions he might have about the Avengers Initiative."

"Better than having old one-eye here," Tony grumbled. "I nearly had a heart-attack when I found him sitting in my living room."

Coulson didn't bother to remark on Stark's smart comment. He simply said, "There he is," and opened the car door to step out onto the pavement.

"I'll just wait here then?"

Couson closed the door behind him. He stood for a moment in front of the car, patiently waiting for the young Peter Parker to walk closer to him. Peter was saying goodbye to what might have been a friend of his and was finally stepping onto the sidewalk toward Coulson. It was when Peter was only a few feet away from the Agent that Coulson made his move.

"Peter Parker?" he asked.

Coulson easily hid his amusement as the teenager looked befuddled for a moment, looking over both his shoulders before pointing at himself and bobbing his head.

"Uh, yeah?" he said, squinting at the agent briefly.

Coulson barely bit back a comment about Peter's lack of surety in his own identity.

"Agent Coulson," he said and he held out a hand for the teenager to shake.

Peter hesitated for a moment, but he finally took the offered hand and gave it a brief yet firm shake.

"I work with an agency called SHIELD. I don't expect you've heard of us."

Peter shook his head, almost a little too hard and breathed out a soft, "no." Coulson couldn't help but be reluctantly impressed. If he'd met this young man in any other situation, he'd never have guessed he'd been moonlighting as a masked vigilante or even that he was at the head of his class.

"If you wouldn't mind, there's something I'd like to discuss with you," Coulson told him. He moved back over to the car and opened the door.

"I'm not sure if I should-" Peter began, he started looking at his surroundings nervously and rubbed his forearm before crossing his arms.

"I assure you that if you're not interested in what I have to say, you're more than free to leave. We won't even move from this spot," Coulson promised. "All I ask is that you spare a few minutes of your time."

Coulson was counting on Peter's overconfidence in his abilities at this point to get him into the car. Obviously a normal teenager would have to be completely insane to get into an unmarked car with a stranger. However, Peter Parker was hardly a normal teenager. Coulson felt vindicated when Peter nodded reluctantly and moved toward the open door.

Coulson was also glad that Tony had thought to move from the regular seat to the extra car seat that faced the back of the car. It added a nice touch of surprise when Peter finally settled down into the street-side seat and looked up to see Tony Stark smiling at him. This time Coulson actually did chuckle as he sat down in the seat next tothe now gaping Peter and closed the door behind him.

"Now Mr. Parker, SHIELD, or the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement, and Logistics Division, which is responsible for the assembly of the Avengers Initiative, is looking into recruiting you," Coulson explained.

"Wh-recruiting... recruiting me?" Peter repeated, looking absolutely dumbfounded. "Why would you- I mean, I don't understand. Did you mean as an intern? I don't remember applying for-"

"Not as an intern," Coulson assured him, although it was certainly clear this did little to assure the disturbed teenager who couldn't seem to make up his mind about who to gawk at, Coulson or Stark. However, Coulson was sure he had different reasons to stare at Stark than to stare at him.

"After some investigation into the incident at Oscorp it came to our attention that you were most likely the secret identity of the masked vigilante known as Spider-man."

"I- uh, really?" Peter said, obviously not quite absorbing the implications of what Coulson was telling him just yet. It seemed the teenager thought that there might still be some reasonable doubt in their conclusions and that he might be able to talk his way out of this one. "You really think that I-"

"We don't have to think anything, kid," Tony finally cut in. He then mouthed the words 'video surveillance' to Peter and watched in amusement as Peter turned an unhealthy shade of gray.

"Unfortunately, Mr. Stark is correct," Coulson confirmed. "Although you haven't been indiscreet, it only took access to Oscorp's video surveillance and police records to set up a probable time line of events. Of course, there are also things we're eager to hear more about, but we'll allow you to fill us in at your own discretion."

"Huh, allow me to fill you in?" Peter said, bobbing his head again, but not making any eye contact. His entire body now seemed to be a ball of nervous tics rolled into one lump of flesh. "That's very kind of you. You know, allowing me and all."

Stark and Coulson exchanged quick and slightly alarmed glances as Peter decided to focus on this turn of phrase.

"Of course, taking us up on our offer is entirely your decision," Coulson was quick to assure him. "If you're capable of even half the things we think you are, you'd make a good asset to the team, and as a teenager working on his own, I'm sure you'd appreciate the extra support, but we're not trying to blackmail you into anything here."

"And if I refuse?" Peter continued, not looking terribly calmed by the other's words. "If I decide I don't want in? What, you're just going to give up and keep my identity a secret for me? Free of charge?"

"If you find that joining the Avengers Initiative isn't the right path for you, then yes," Coulson shot this panicked line of questioning down before it got out of hand. "We've seen what you've done, and you've done good things. None of the Avengers were in the position to handle the Lizard's attack on the city, but you handled it. And you did it well, too."

Peter continued to shake his head, still not making eye contact with either of the older men. Stark looked at Coulson, an uncharacterisitically serious expression on his face.

"Look, kid," Stark interrupted again. "Peter. We're not trying to work against you here. We'd like to work with you. If you want to keep your identity secret than that's fine. It doesn't matter. Just think about it. You seem to be capable of doing some serious good out there, and it helps if you've got someone to watch your back. And trust me, the longer you do this, you're going to wanna accept all the help you can get."

Peter seemed to calm down a little more at this; he still wasn't making eye contact exactly, but he'd stopped with the twitching.

"When you make a decision, you know where to find us," Tony said.

And this was thing that finally made Peter lift his head and stare the genius billionaire straight in the eye.

"What? Your tower? Stark Tower?"

"I've taken to calling it Avengers Tower nowadays," Tony said with a wink.

"And, uh, should I come through the front door or..."

Tony raised an eyebrow at this.

"What? Do you want us to leave a window open for you?"

"That'd be cool. Yeah, thanks."

Tony just hid a laugh behind a small coughing fit and Coulson took over the conversation once more.

"That's all we wanted to tell you, Peter. The next move is yours," Coulson said.

Peter nodded and opened the door next to him as quickly as he could. Both Tony and Coulson watched as he practically sprinted down the street to the subway station.

"Well, that was interesting," Tony sighed as he moved back into the seat Peter had taken. "I mean, I knew he's be young, but I guess I forgot how young seventeen could actually be."

Coulson only hummed as he thought over the encounter.

"Cute kid though," Stark continued. "I like him."


	4. Peter Considers His Choices and Makes a Decision

Peter was shaking as he climbed up the side of his house and onto his roof. He wasn't sure if he was angry or scared, but he knew that his meeting with the SHIELD agent and Tony Stark was more than he could deal with at the moment. Peter opened the window of his bedroom and gracefully leaped through, the tips of his sneakers barely brushing the windowsill. He shucked off the shoes and set them next to the door and Peter began to pace, brooding on the decision he had to make.

He'd been so sure he'd kept his identity as Spider-man a secret. The only people who knew for certain were Gwen, who would never betray him, and Dr. Connor, who had been sentenced to solitary confinement without parole for quite some time.

Peter bit at the tip of his thumb, gnawing at the nail and flesh as he walked the length of his room and back. His other arm was wrapped around his torso, the hand gripping at his side, digging into the soft material of his hooded sweatshirt. After a while the pacing started to lose its effect and Peter stood in place, hopping on one foot and then the other, but none of it helped calm the thoughts swirling madly around in his head.

Finally, Peter gave up on the ordinary and leaped upward, his hands hitting the ceiling of his bedroom and sticking. He pulled himself upward and sat cross-legged next to the ceiling fan, his body curling in on itself, and the tension seemed to seep away from him.

Peter breathed deeply once, and then again, and really thought about what had happened that afternoon. Number one, someone had found out who he was, and if that wasn't bad enough, it had to be a government agency. Number two, he'd met Tony Fucking Stark. Iron Man. Lead Innovator in Arc Reactor Technology, Robotics, and Engineering. Billionaire.

Peter opened his mouth to scream silently, his hands flying up to hover in the air, bracketing the side of his head, his fingers twitching spasmodically. Peter realized how weird he must look at that moment and quickly slapped a hand over his mouth.

So, Number three, they wanted him to join the Avengers, or something. Peter fought the urge to have another silent freak out. He calmed himself and tried to really think about what was being offered to him here.

Upsides: Awesome backup if needed, medical attention, access to awesome tech, access to awesome people. They'd be more motivated to keep his identity secret if he was helping them out. Food? Maybe they'd feed him every once in a while? Peter shrugged. That one was up in the air as a plus point.

Downsides: they could take advantage of his status as a minor and his desire to keep his identity secret. He'd be called in to fight battles he wouldn't normally have to fight. Peter wasn't so sure how he would have handled the alien invasion (Alien Invasion!) that had happened before his transformation. And… well, Peter couldn't think of anything else at that point in time. After all, the fact that they knew his identity was bad enough and they knew that keeping it a secret was important to him. Who knew how they could use it against him in the future? Especially if they wanted to make him do something he didn't want to.

On the other hand, these guys were heroes weren't they? Even if SHIELD wasn't that great, it seemed they were responsible for putting together the Avengers and without them the city would probably be overrun with freaky aliens or something. They wouldn't just take advantage of him because he was a kid right?

Peter crossed his arms and hunched over his legs, his forehead nearly touching his jean clad shins. After a second or two of deep breathing, Peter Parker looked up and over at his still open window. He'd made his decision.

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Peter had decided to forgo putting on the bright red and blue spandex for this meeting. It was dark enough that he wouldn't be spotted very easily, especially since he was wearing dark clothing. Peter stretched out his hand and shot his web at the underside of the platform protruding from the sleek modern building. Peter flung himself upward and onto the side of the building where he slowly started to make his ascent.

After a few moments of looking for a possible open window, Peter had made it to the platform and carefully peeked over the edge. He was relieved to see that the door had been left open and he could clearly see Stark sitting in the middle of the room with a glass of some dark-colored liquid that was probably alcohol. Peter craned his neck back and forth, but it looked like there was no one else in the room with him. Would it really be okay for him to just drop in? Sure, he'd told the guy he could leave a window open for him, but now that he thought about it, that was kind of weird wasn't it?

Peter just stared blankly at the open door, the night wind biting his fingers as they lay exposed on top of freezing metal. Peter sighed after a while, his breath immediately condensing into a white mist.

"I came this far, right?" Peter said to himself as he pulled himself up onto the platform. "Can't back out now."

He walked cautiously toward the open door, his footsteps nearly silent on the smooth concrete and whatever noise they might have made was being eaten up by the wind. Peter walked up to the open glass door, hovered for a moment before tapping on the glass and coughing a little into his hand in order to announce his presence.

Stark glanced up from whatever he'd been studying, Peter thought they might have been blueprints from where he was standing, and the skin around his dark eyes crinkled pleasantly as he caught sight of Peter nervously skulking in the threshold.

"Finally," he said, down the screen he'd been holding on the table next to his drink. "JARVIS told me ages ago that you'd arrived on the south side of the building, but you took your time. Admiring the view?"

Stark's smile widen as he shifted back comfortably into his armchair, and he gestured for Peter to take the seat across from him. Peter blushed and ducked his head to hide it. He shuffled over to the other side of the room, took off his backpack, and plopped down into the offered seat.

"So where's, you know? Agent Whatever?" Peter asked, trying to break the ice. "The guy that was with you?"

"Phil?" Stark clarified. "He didn't think you'd make your decision by tonight. I had a feeling though."

"Right," Peter said under his breath, looking to the side before glancing back at Stark. "So…"

"So?" Stark said, leaning forward to pick up his drink and settling back down. He took a quick sip before resting his arm on the side of the chair, his eyes never leaving Peter's even once.

"Uh right," Peter said, shifting his body forward so that he was sitting on the edge of the chair, his elbows on his knees and his body tilted forward. "I decided to, uh, give it a shot."

Tony beamed at the younger man and he sat up, opening his mouth to speak, but Peter interrupted him before he could say anything.

"But only as a trial run or something," Peter said. "Maybe see what it's like for a month? See if I want to stay?"

Tony's bright expression didn't dim, which Peter took as a good sign, and instead morphed into something that Peter would almost label as fond. However, it might have been wishful thinking.

"Not a problem," Tony said. "Not many people are inclined to trust SHIELD right off the bat. Actually a lot of people never really learn to trust them, but I think they'll be fine with a trial run."

"Okay," Peter said, his relief was near palpable, the tension seemed to flee from him in waves and he finally sat back into his chair. "So, uh, now what?"

"Hm, well I guess that's kind of up to you," Tony said. "You're not really like the rest of us. You've got to go to school, do homework, and you have to go home every night to make sure your family doesn't worry."

Peter shrugged, acknowledging that his situation wasn't really comparable to any of the other Avengers. Their's was a full-time career while he was just working an after-school job.

"I guess just keep doing what you've been doing, but stop by the Tower every other day or so unless we ask you to come in. SHIELD will probably want to debrief you or something. Probably ask you questions too. Don't take that personally though, it's what they do."

"Uh, right," Peter said. "Questions. Do I have to answer them?"

"If you want," Tony said, shrugging. "It's not like you're public enemy number one and to be honest, whatever questions they might ask you they probably already know the answer to. Or they can at least make a very educated guess."

"Yeah, that's very reassuring," Peter said, crossing his arms.

Tony raised his eyebrows at this. It seemed he'd underestimated the kid, the sarcasm was strong with this one.

"They're a super-secret spy operation," Tony said. "They don't usually aim to be reassuring."

"I guess..." Peter said, his voice trailing off. "So now what? Can I go or is there something I need to sign?"

"You can go," Tony assured. "I'll tell Coulson about your decision in the morning so that you can stop by tomorrow afternoon. Is that good? You're not busy then?"

"I- uh, shouldn't be?" Peter said, squinting his eyes as he tried to think. His mind was all over the place these days and sometimes he found himself just plain forgetting things he probably wouldn't have before this superhero thing had all started. "Do you have a phone number I can call just in case I need to get in touch?"

"Sure," Tony said, and he recited a number for Peter to enter into his phone. "Call that any time you like. If I'm not there to answer it then JARVIS will pick it up."

"Oh, yeah, I meant to ask. Who's Jarvis?" Peter asked, thinking back to before when Tony'd mentioned a man named Jarvis had told him Peter was coming.

"My artificial intelligence," Tony said proudly. "He runs things around here. Helps me in the suit too."

Peter could only blink at him for a moment or two.

"Cool."


	5. Peter Starts an Interesting Internship

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Story So Far: Coulson does some digging on the whole Spiderman/Lizard incident, meets up with Dr. Connors, and puts two and two together. He picks up Peter outside his school with Tony Stark and gives him an offer he can't refuse. After thinking about it for a little bit, Peter decides to visit Stark in his Tower. They talk and Peter agrees to give it a try.

"This is great news, Peter!" Aunt May exclaimed, a warm smile on her face as she handed Peter a large bowl of spaghetti and meatballs. "Interning at Stark Industries is such a wonderful opportunity."

"Yeah," Peter nodded, barely glancing up at his aunt as he piled a large helping of pasta and meat onto his plate. "It was, uh- kind of a surprise. I wasn't expecting anything from the application I handed in. It's been ages."

Actually, it hadn't, but that was because Peter Parker, aka Spiderman, had never sent in an application to Stark Industries- not that he wouldn't have if it'd been an option. In fact, it was only a cover up for the fact that his night time activities had been discovered by a top secret government agency with a ridiculously long name. Although Peter had to admit that 'SHIELD' sounded cool enough.

"Well, I'm very happy for you," Aunt May said, leaning forward to give Peter's hand a quick squeeze. "Your teachers and I have been worried. Junior year is ending fast and you're going to be applying to colleges soon. I know that things have been... difficult since Ben died. In more ways than one, but he never would have wanted to see you throw away your future."

Aunt May was, of course, referring to his steadily declining grades, something that had been happening ever since Uncle Ben had died. He was lucky that he'd been such a good student until just a few months ago, or he didn't think his teachers would have been so lenient with him.

"Yeah, I know," Peter said, feeling guiltier than he usually did. "I'm really looking forward to this. It'll look really good on my applications."

"Do you know when you start?" Aunt May asked eagerly. "You really haven't told me anything yet. Not really. Do you need me to sign anything?"

Peter wasn't really sure about that. He'd only just spoken to Mr. Stark earlier that night and he was supposed to drop by after school tomorrow so that he could get a proper orientation (or was it a briefing?) from Mr. Government Agent Man. Maybe he'd ask if they could come up with some paperwork to appease his aunt. It didn't help that he didn't know if there was any paperwork after one was accepted into an internship. (He'd kinda just shown up that one time.) Maybe he could ask Gwen.

"Uh, I'm supposed to go in tomorrow after school. They said we'd sort everything out then," Peter said, trying as hard as he could not to stray far from the 'truth'. "I'll ask though."

"Okay," Aunt May said, clearly not worried even though Peter kind of wished that she was. It never failed to make him feel terrible when it was this easy to lie to his aunt.

"Do you think you'll get to meet Tony Stark?" Aunt May asked. "I never know what to think of that man. There's always so many different stories flying around."

"Well, he's a hero, isn't he?" Peter said, defending the man who he had actually met just earlier that night. "And he's a genius. I kind of figure people can say what ever they want about him. He does more than most people to make the world a better place."

Not to mention Mr. Stark had a 'personal responsibility' thing going on that he could really relate to. He'd been starting high school when Tony Stark had shut down his weapons division and then come out as a superhero. A lot of the stuff that he'd been saying hadn't meant much to Peter at the time- especially when it had been eclipsed by the whole Iron Man thing- but he'd looked it up after the incident with Dr. Connors had gone down. He'd been wallowing in a lot of guilt- Dr. Connors, Uncle Ben, and Captain Stacy being the people at the forefront of his mind- and the idea of acknowledging and taking responsibility for one's mistakes and fixing them was something that Peter really identified with and it had really helped him deal with it.

After all, Uncle Ben's words had helped inspire him to use his powers for the greater good because he'd realized, what good was having superpowers if he didn't use them to help people? But the message in Tony Stark's story had helped him accept that there were consequences to using that power.

"I didn't know that you thought so highly of him," Aunt May said thoughtfully as she picked at her food.

"Well, I did apply to intern at his company, didn't I?" Peter said, and he laughed.

 

"Tony?"

Said man lifted his head from the car engine he was tuning up and blinked at the irritated strawberry blonde tapping her foot.

"What's up, Pep?"

"What's this about a new intern?" she asked, glancing down at her Starkpad and scrolling through pages of information. "We aren't accepting any interns right now. And why is SHIELD giving him to us? It's not another Natalie situation, is it? Not that I don't love Natasha but-"

"Pep, relax."

"Why is that every time you tell me to relax, I always tense up again," Pepper said almost to herself as she started to rub the back of her neck.

Tony rolled his eyes at her and he put down his tools so he could wipe the motor oil off of his hands.

"I'm serious. It's not a big deal," Tony said. "It was kind of my idea anyway. Nice kid, I've already met him. He's coming by tomorrow so that we can figure out what he's going to be doing and so that Agent can interrogate him."

Unfortunately none of this helped to alleviate any of Pepper's confusion.

"And why is he interrogating a new intern?" Pepper asked, some amusement mixing with the confusion now that she knew that Tony had something to do with it. "Do you want to tell me what's going on here exactly, or do I have to keep taking shots in the dark?"

Tony grimaced as he dropped the dirty rag he'd been using onto the floor. He walked into the kitchen to grab a water bottle from the fridge and listened to the sharp click-clack of Pepper's heels following behind him. She waited patiently as he chugged from a bottle, glancing around the room and then back at her. Pepper was good at playing the waiting game when Tony was nervous about telling her something.

"Uh, you know Spiderman?" Tony started, figuring he'd cut right to the chase.

"The new vigilante superhero?" Pepper said with an unimpressed look into her eyes. Clearly she didn't get where this was going. "Not personally. Why?"

"We found him. SHIELD is recruiting him- well, technically I'm the one who recruited him. He's a little wary of SHIELD. Can't say that I blame him," Tony said in a rush before he put the water bottle to his lips again. He figured if he was drinking, words wouldn't start flying out of his mouth faster than an angry Hulk.

"Th- The intern is Spiderman?" Pepper said, looking down her Starkpad more intently. "He can't be more than eighteen!"

"I think he's seventeen?" Tony mumbled, not quite sure. "We picked him up when he was getting out of school. I told Agent that was kind of shady, but he wouldn't listen."

"He's seventeen?"

Pepper had this dead look in her eyes that made Tony a little twitchy. It wasn't that often that he saw his trusted companion look this rattled. Well, at least when he wasn't putting his life in danger.

"Yeah, that's why he's interning," Tony explained just for the sake of filling the silence. He was pretty sure that it wasn't really getting to Pepper right at that moment.

"What," Pepper started before she stopped again, rubbing her eyes and forehead until she was ready to speak. "What is he going to be doing here?"

"Interning?" Tony shrugged. "I dunno. I looked up his school records. He's pretty smart. Pretty sure we could find something for him to do. I'm sure it'll look good on his resume no matter what he does here."

Pepper snorted, "Yeah sure. I'm sure future employers will be real impressed if he's head mailboy."

"That's an option, " Tony said speculatively. "If he's able to flip around the city like he does, he can probably get the mail around in record time."

"We're not going to put him in the mail room, Tony," Pepper said dismissively as she looked at Peter Parker's picture with a frown. It was one of those awkward school ID pictures, where no one looks good. His wide eyes made him look even younger than he apparently was and his hair was ridiculous. Then there was the smile that looked more like a grimace than anything else. Pepper stared and wondered what Peter Parker- what Spiderman- was really like.

 

 

Peter glanced up at the building in front of him and wondered why the Stark Tower looked so much more intimidating when he wasn't crawling up the side. Unfortunately, he only had a little time to stand awkwardly in front of the building and contemplate this as he looked at his watch. If he didn't hurry up he was going to be late.

It had been a longer day at school than usual and by the end of it, he was nearly shaking with nerves. It was only Gwen's steady presence that had stopped him from losing his lunch in the bathroom. More than ever, he was happy that he'd decided to make up with her, his guilt about not keeping Captain Stacy's dying wish regardless. He'd honor him by protecting Gwen for as long as she'd allow it.

It was unfortunate that she couldn't be with him now though. Peter finally scrounged up some courage, the kind that didn't come with a spandex uniform, and walked through the sliding doors. It took three minutes to walk up to the front desk, give his name, and get directions. Peter also thought that the lady at this desk was much friendlier than the last one he'd encountered. Or at least she wasn't telling him to find himself.

Peter pressed the button for the fifty-first floor and waited patiently as the doors closed, and the awkward elevator music started up.

"Seriously?" Peter said, staring at the elevator ceiling, looking for speakers.

"Is the music not to your liking, Mr. Parker?" a cool, accented voice said, and Peter recognized it as Tony Stark's AI. "Would you prefer something else?"

"Uh, no," Peter said a little weakly. "No, this is fine."

"Very well then, sir."

Peter stared for a moment and when the voice didn't come back, he looked back down and shook his head. After a few moments, the elevator finally reached his floor. When the doors opened, Peter poked his head out and looked at the large, cavernous room. Nearly everything was white and metal, a sort of modern, yet futuristic style that was very Stark-like. There was even an entire wall made up of nothing but floor-to-ceiling windows.

It took Peter a moment to notice Agent Coulson sitting quietly on one of the gleaming white sofas and Peter wondered how he'd even missed him, what with the black suit on white couch and all.

"Agent Coulson?" Peter said, and he waved his hand a little when Coulson looked up from whatever he was doing on his phone.

Coulson simply glanced up and nodded to the sofa across from him.

"Just a moment, Mr. Parker," Coulson said.

"Right," Peter said as he plopped down on the couch. For a second he wondered what he should do with his backpack, but he decided to just lay it across his lap.

There was an awkward moment where Coulson tapped away on his phone and Peter shifted nervously in his seat. He straightened his t-shirt and wiped his sweaty hands off on the tops of his jeans. Peter wondered if he should have dressed up for his interview. Well... was it even really an interview? In the midst of debating this with himself, Coulson managed to finish his business and focus on the ditzy-looking teenager in front of him.

"So, Mr. Parker," Coulson began, watching with quiet amusement as Peter flinched before looking at Coulson sheepishly. "Mr. Stark told me you were willing to give us a trial run."

"Uh, yeah," Peter said. "I guess I'll be clocking in on my part-time superhero job with you. How's that going to work exactly?"

"You can do what you normally do," Coulson said. "But make sure to check in with us before and after. Coming in physically is preferred, but we're going to be giving you this-"

Coulson pulled out what appeared to be an earbud from his suit jacket.

"If you don't come to Stark Tower, call in using this. It's a safe connection to my phone. Also use this if you run into any trouble. Even if there's something unusual, report it in."

"Right," Peter said, taking the earpeice from Coulson's hand. "So how do I...?"

"Just place it in your ear," Coulson said. "When you want to give us a call, tap it twice and it will connect you to me. Tap it three times to get into contact with Mr. Stark's AI."

"Okay, cool," Peter said and he tucked it away into his pocket.

"You should start wearing it as soon as you leave," Coulson advised, although it sounded a little but like a warning to Peter's ears. "Get into the habit."

"Okay," Peter shrugged. "And, uh, what about the internship thing? Is that just a cover for checking in or will I actually be doing stuff? Er, and I might need something to show my aunt..."

"Whether you'll be working as an actual intern isn't up to SHIELD," Coulson admitted. "I've contacted Stark Industries CEO Virginia Potts about the special circumstances. We'll be meeting her in a few moments. Talk with her and I'm sure she'll be able to give you whatever you need."

Peter just nodded and thought about when he was going to meet up with Gwen later. She had a bit of a girl-crush on the famous Pepper Potts, and he was sure she'd be excited to hear about their meeting.

"Will I be meeting, uh, anyone else?" Peter asked, thinking of the rest of the Avengers.

"It depends on who's here," Coulson told him as he stood up and straightened his suit. "Most probably you'll meet Dr. Banner; he lives here in Stark Tower. Two of the Avengers are active field agents for SHIELD so seeing them will be unlikely unless there's an emergency. Thor is...at home, and Captain Rogers has his own apartment in Brooklyn."

"Captain Rogers?" Peter asked as he got up himself and slung his bag over his shoulder. "As in, Captain America?"

"Yes," Coulson said as he pressed the call button for the elevator.

They stood there awkwardly for a moment, more awkward on Peter's part than on Coulson's, until the elevator finally arrived, a muted tone announcing its presence before the doors opened and the two stepped on.

It wasn't until a few more moments had passed (Peter had started sweating) that Coulson glanced over and finally opened his mouth.

"Do you like Captain America?" he asked. Peter only stared for a moment, not sure if he'd heard the agent correctly before answering.

"Uh, sure?" Peter said. "Uh, I have some of his comics at home. They were my uncle's and he gave them to me when I was a kid."

"Oh, really?" Coulson said with some interest, turning his head to nod in Peter's direction before clearing his throat and looking forward again. Peter had the sneaking suspicion that Agent Coulson was trying to make small talk.

"I have all the trading cards, you know," Coulson continued. Peter wasn't quite sure what to say about that. "Vintage. Captain Rogers signed them for me."

"Oh," Peter said, only because he thought he should say something in reply. "Cool."

Oh Thank God, Peter thought when the doors finally slid open.

 

Pepper glanced up from her work when she heard a knock on her door.

"Ms. Potts?" a familiar voice called. She smiles when she sees who it is.

"Phil!" she said warmly.

Pepper stood up and walked to the door. She gave the small man a light hug.

"How've you been?" she asked, a hand still on his shoulder. She'd been as devastated as the rest of the Avengers when she'd heard of Phil's supposed demise, and she was more than happy that the stoic SHIELD agent had managed to escape death. After all, aside from her, and now Bruce, he was the only one who could handle Tony.

"Good," Phil said, patting her shoulder before moving farther into her office. It was then that she noticed the awkward looking teenager behind him.

"Uh, hi," he said.

Pepper looked at the bespectacled, young man. He was wearing a beige canvas jacket over a vintage t-shirt and a pair of close-fitting, dark-wash jeans. His ratty sneakers and the skateboard that was stuck in the back of his school bag completed the look.

'This is Spiderman?' Pepper thought. If she thought he looked awkward and nervous in his school photo, it was nothing compared to what he was like in real life. He looked like he'd rather melt away than step into her office. Nevertheless, they were all here for a reason. And oddly enough, Tony seemed to be impressed with him, and Pepper had soon learned to trust when Tony took a shine to someone...when they weren't a 20-something young woman.

"Peter Parker?" she said as she lifted a hand for him to shake. "I'm Virginia Potts. I hear you're our new intern."

"Uh, yeah," Peter said, looking at her hand for a moment before quickly lifting his own to shake.

Pepper was surprised that despite what she expected, his hand was warm and dry, and his handshake was comfortably firm and assured.

"Why don't you take a seat?" she offered, and she gestured toward one of the chairs in front of her desk.

When she pointed toward the other chair for Coulson, she was surprised to see him shake his head.

"I'm going to let you two talk," Coulson explained. "Mr. Parker has some questions about his internship."

Pepper's raised eyebrow told him that she had some questions as well, but it was her bad luck that Coulson seemed to be willfully ignorant of non-verbal communication that day.

"I assume Mr. Stark briefed you on Mr. Parker's situation?"

It was an open secret by now that telling Tony anything, whether it was classified or not, meant telling Pepper. However, as strange as it was, SHIELD didn't have much of a problem with it. It seemed that they would rather deal with Stark by going through Pepper than by dealing with the billionaire superhero personally.

"Indeed he did," Pepper said, as she sat down in her own chair. "In his own way."

"Hmm," Coulson hummed before turning to leave. "We'll speak again when you're done, Mr. Parker."

Coulson gave her one of his mysterious little smiles and she shot one last meaningful look at him before he closed her door. They would be having words later.

"Briefed?" Peter said. He was hunched in his chair, the back pack between his legs as he glanced between her and the closed door. "Does that mean that, um, you know about-"

"Your condition?" Pepper said, the side of her mouth quirked on one side. "Yes, Tony told me about your secret identity."

"I don't think it's that secret anymore," Peter said with a frown. However, it wasn't directed at her, but more toward his shoes.

Pepper couldn't help but give him an assuring smile.

"Don't worry. The only ones who know besides me are Tony and SHIELD. That's still pretty secret," Pepper said.

"I guess," Peter said, but he didn't sound very convinced.

Pepper shrugged. He'd learn in time.

"First things first, I guess," Pepper said as she began tapping on her Starkpad, the blue glow of the device lighting up her face. "If you're going to be interning here, we'll need to find you something to do. I won't have anything to do with the superhero side of things, you'll have to talk to either Coulson or Tony, but even if this is a cover, we need to make it a good one."

"Uh, right," Peter said, straightening up in his seat. "I've never applied anywhere before, so I don't know what I need to do. Like, paperwork? I normally wouldn't think of it, but my aunt asked and-"

"Sure," Pepper said, cutting off the teenager's rambling. "You are a minor after all. We don't normally hire high-schoolers, but I can have something put together for you to take home before the end of the day."

"Okay," Peter said, blinking. "Thank you."

"Not a problem," she said. "Now, Midtown Science? Not a bad school. Your grades are a little...sporadic."

"Um," Peter said, scratching the back of his head. "Yeah, my uncle... passed away a few months ago and the whole, uh, spider thing happened around the same time. I'm working on catching up. Finding a balance and all that."

Pepper's gaze softened and she made a note on her pad.

"I see, well, your grades before that are impeccable, and you've got some time before the end of the year to make it up," she continued. "You've entered and won some science competitions in the past. Impressive. What did you do?"

"Uh, I built a remote-controlled security system last year," Peter explained. "The year before that, I did a study on cross-breeding different species of amphibians. And before that, I think I did one of those working model volcanoes. Like, in sixth grade."

Peter indicated its approximate size with his hands, and Pepper fought to hide a chuckle. She nodded and made another note on her pad.

"A wide range of topics. Good," she said. "And have you done any work on your own? Any that you'd like to mention?"

"Uh, some, I guess," Peter said thoughtfully, gazing at the ceiling as he scratched his chin. "My most recent stuff is a little focused on the spider thing."

"Uh-huh," she said slowly. "Anything that you're willing to share?"

He glanced at her, looking a little panicked oddly enough.

"Well, some of it was my father's work," Peter admitted. "It's kind of what started everything...now that I think about it."

"Your father's work?" Pepper prompted, her curiosity getting the best of her. She put the pad down on to her desk and leaned back into her chair.

"Yeah," Peter said. "My father worked in cross-species genetics before he died. I found some of his work a few months ago and I went to visit his old research partner."

"Who was his research partner?" Pepper asked.

"Dr. Curtis Connors," Peter said.

He watched her carefully as comprehension dawned over her face.

"Dr. Connors as in...?"

"The Lizard," Peter finished for her.

"And you said your father worked with him studying cross-species genetics?" Pepper said, almost to herself. The story Peter was giving her only became more and more complicated the more he told her. Not to mention, it looked like the origins behind Spiderman and the Lizard were more involved than anyone had guessed.

"Do you mind if I ask what happened to you?" Pepper asked. "What turned you into... Spiderman?"

Peter thought about it for a moment, fidgeting in his seat as he did so.

"You don't have to... "Pepper said after a few moments.

"It's okay," Peter said. "I'll probably have to tell Mr. Agent later anyway. And besides, you already know I'm Spiderman."

Peter sat for a bit longer, gathering his thoughts, before he began.

"After I found some of my father's notes, I found out about his research partner, Dr. Connors, and looked him up online. I found out that he was working at Oscorp, and that there was an internship starting up the next day. I, uh, kind of snuck in and took someone else's ID."

Peter said this sheepishly, scratching the back of his head when he thought about how Roderigo Guevera had been forcibly escorted from the building. He coughed before continuing.

"Uh, after that we were introduced to Dr. Connors," Peter said, purposefully not mentioning Gwen. "We talked about cross-species genetics a little bit, I mean he'd been talking to the whole group, but I guess I was the only one who'd read any of his work. I slipped away after that..."

Peter thought of the guy he'd bumped into and the decay rate algorithm that had caused so much trouble. He didn't think he would tell either Stark or SHIELD about it. After all, look what it had done to Dr. Connors.

"I bumped into this guy, and the notes he was carrying looked like some of the stuff I had found in my dad's work. I, uh, followed him and I found the... spider chamber. My dad had been working on breeding these super-spiders, I guess. I snuck inside and got bit by one of them."

Peter still shivered a little bit when he thought of all those spiders falling down onto him and the bite on the back of his neck.

"I got kind of sick on the subway going back home, then I fell asleep and woke up with superpowers."

"I...see," Pepper said in a way that made Peter think that she really didn't. He didn't blame her though, it was a lot to take in. "And what about Dr. Connors? How did that happen?"

"Uh..." Peter said with a wince. "Long story short, I went to him afterwards. I didn't tell him about me, even though I think he suspected something, but we got to talking about his and my dad's old work, and we were able to come up with what we thought was the solution to cross-species genetics. It, uh, really did seem to work at first, but... after a while it- well, I think everyone saw what happened."

"Right," Pepper said. "Lizards."

"I mean, I don't blame Dr. Connors," Peter said earnestly. "I don't. He was a little desperate. I mean, he'd been working on the whole cross-species problem for, like, decades, and I'm sure he's been wanting to get his arm back for even longer. I'm not saying he was justified, but..."

"It's alright, Peter," Pepper said kindly, tapping a stylus lightly on her desk as she thought. "Not every situation is what it appears to be... I'm just happy that you were there to stop him."

Peter ducked his head and shrugged, toeing the plush carpet with his sneaker.

"Well," Pepper said with an assuring smile. "Back to the interview?"

Peter looked up and nodded, sitting back in his seat to prepare himself again.

"I'll be honest, Peter," Pepper began. "You're more than qualified for a position here at Stark. We like our innovative young scientists. The only question is where to put you. Internships started a few weeks ago so...hmmm."

Peter fidgeted for a few moments, wondering what the pretty CEO would decide for him.

"You could stick with either me or Tony until we decide," Pepper said after a while. The words were said slowly as if she was trying them out. "Lord knows that we both need a personal assistant..."

The look that she gave Peter could only be described as calculating.

"Alright, Peter," Pepper said suddenly, leaning back in her chair as she gave him a smile that made him nervous. "Go outside and talk to Phil. I'll get your paperwork together, and you can come in tomorrow for training. I think I'll steal you as my assistant first so I can see what you can do. Any objections?"

Peter stared at her for a moment, his mouth slightly gaping, but he recovered quickly enough.

"Uh, no, ma'am," Peter said.


End file.
